"My lady has grown cold hearted," Valel whispered to Iala in Elthairin as they ran along at a brisk pace behind the others. Rollis led the way with his crudely restrung bow, and Lysia guided him in the direction the creature went. Tamain, however, brought up the rear and was barely able to keep up with them. He was still mentally exhausted from channeling excessive amounts of magic saving the Harpai woman. But his instructions had been understood; if this was a demon spawn, he was their only weapon against it and he needed to be ready. So he lagged behind, and rested his senses.
Iala clenched her jaw and did not respond. Valel thought that perhaps it was the embarrassment of earlier, or his own defiance against her, or the fact she was traveling with two Zecairins and a traitor, but she hadn't said a word since their joint venture began. Valel glanced behind him to find Tamain still there. He could tell by his vacant gaze that Tamain was off in daydream land.
"Before today, I think. I first noticed it after the princess returned with Father." Valel added.
"How do you expect me to accept a declaration of war against our own people?" Iala hissed back at him angrily. Valel had no immediate answer, he had suspected her feelings, but had hoped not to have to have this argument.
"How did you expect me to accept the orders to end Lysia's life?" Valel countered calmly. "A Knight follows orders. Even such orders that he does not see the reasoning in. Yet despite my feelings about it, you had a justified reason for it. You did not want her to suffer alone in this land after we were gone." Valel added. Iala almost stopped running when she looked at him in confusion. She had been set up and was just now realizing it.
"You will make a fine Captain," She sighed in exasperation. "I concede."
"My lady is most gracious." Valel smiled.
Tamain glanced up from the back of their heels to regard each of the Elthairin elves in turn. His bloodshot eyes and perpetual scowl were more due to the burning headache than his mood or the consideration he was giving these two and their secret conversation.
The group burst through the tree line and into some outlying farmsteads. The squealing of terrified hogs drew their attention and Rollis made a straight line for the disturbance. They closed in, and much to their reluctant delight, they found their winged prey as it took flight from the hog pen it had been feasting in.
Iala froze in shock when she saw as there was no denying the legendary horror that it was. The monster had grown. Its leathery wings were massive and twice as long as it was tall. A long barbed tail swished about with half a skewered carcass still attached. Its gangly arms ended in claws longer than most knives. Its head was humanoid but with a slightly elongated maw full of fangs. But it was the skin coloring that showed it for what it was; it was covered in reddish skin, blackened by a splotchy leathery hide. She had secretly hopped this had been a fool's quest, or at best a Zecairin trap. Instead she stood frozen in panic. Rollis shot it out of the air with two arrows through its wings right at the shoulder muscles. It shrieked and plummeted to the ground.
"I'm not ready." Tamain instructed, exasperated, his voice weighted with weariness. "Leaf Knights! Use elements on your weapons and keep it down!" Iala was bristled out of her shock at being commanded by a Zecairin, but she could not argue his tactics and Valel was already well ahead of her with two flaming swords at his sides. She drew her own blades, charged them with cold magic, and followed him. But pulled up short when she spotted Lysia joining the fight with her own knife.
"No!" Iala commanded. "Support him!" She pointed at Rollis. "If it gets past us, then engage it." She gave as concession. Lysia followed her orders.
Valel was upon it a moment later, slicing off bits of wings and limbs. But it had grown, and now matched him in size. Its regenerative ability was quickly regrowing limbs and flesh faster than Valel could cut them off despite the charred wounds. The Elthairin knight was losing the fight as it scored a nasty wound on his forearm, and then followed up by shredding big chunks from his shoulders. His own muscles did not work so well after being rent and severed, and Valel collapsed to his knees. Despite the pain, he set himself to healing just as Iala took over the battle.
Truly a master of her art, her body twisted acrobatically through the air to dodge the monster's blows as she scored her own gruesome hits. Bits of the creature flew through the air and splattered the landscape. But for every blob of gore that landed another had regrown in its place before the former had dissolved into an acrid pool of yellow goo. The charred flesh where Valel's blades had scored their hits were regenerating more slowly, but not enough to tip the fight in their favor. An arrow streaked between them to puncture an eye, blinding the creature. Iala was grateful for the support, despite its questionable source, and committed herself completely to the joint task. She worked off of the incapacitation Rollis provided, and severed legs and arms from its blinded side, until the arrow fell away, dissolved by its own blood.
Frustrated at a stalemated fight, the creature roared, and from its mouth spewed more of the dark yellow acid. Iala back-flipped out of the way, but not before getting her legs coated in the caustic slime. It burned through her leather leggings and sizzled her skin quickly and she shrieked. In proper riposte, she threw a blade at its head and plugged the spewing mouth with her own steel. It did little but to diffuse the spray to the sides, and Valel had to scramble to avoid getting covered. But the damage had been done, and Iala was now out of the fight. The acid had burned the flesh off her shins and she had to stop to work healing magic on them before she could stand again.
An arrow struck it in the cheek, exploded, and half the creature's head disappeared in a red mist. It howled horribly as its flesh quickly reformed, and fled the battle by flying off.
"Fuck, that worked?!" Rollis hooted and slapped Lysia's shoulders. "Do it again!" He said as he took aim with another shot. Lysia focused hard and magically packed compressed air into the metal arrowhead. Rollis let the shot fly, but at the last minute the creature dove, and it struck its tail instead of its back. The arrow exploded and half the tail blew off. Unfazed, it hastened its retreat by climbing higher into the sky.
"Tamain!?" Rollis howled, hoping for instruction. But he found his leader's body locked rigidly upright and twitching uncontrollably with his head thrown back. Lysia ran to him, but the static magic around him made her pull up short and grab her temples in pain. Whatever he was doing, it was massive, and massively taxing to his body. As she backed away Lysia suddenly wondered what this would do to him when he was finished, as weak as he was.
"Stop it before it gets to the town!" Rollis shouted. "If it feeds again it'll only get bigger!" Iala had crudely healed her legs and was working her magic on Valel's rent arms.
"Go!" Valel shouted. Iala locked her jaw and stopped his bleeding, and he rewarded her for her efforts by him thrusting his blades into her hands. Hers had been so coated in the monster's blood and ichor that even the one that hadn't been dissolved in its throat wasn't of much better use.
A dark shadow fell over them, and Iala looked skyward to find dark clouds had suddenly formed in a concentrated area directly above them. She didn't give it a second thought and the Knight Captain sped after the creature as fast as her feet could carry her. As fast as she was she wasn't gaining on the creature, and the walls of the town were already fast approaching.
"Drop it!" She yelled back as it started to dive for the other side of the walls. But no arrows flew overhead. With a grunt, she sheathed her blades and pulled her own short bow out from under her tattered cloak. Her garment along with her quiver had also taken a splash of the monster's acid, but she was able to pull a few quality arrows from it. Two pinpoint shots in quick succession and she had it plummeting to the ground. She winced when it fell on the other side of the town walls to the crash of splintering wood timbers and a plume of dust and debris. The humans could do nothing against something like this but feed it. She rued letting it get that close to them.
Iala scanned the wall's length. It was too high to jump over and the stonework looked too slick with mildew and moss to climb. Worse, she couldn't see an opening on this side – she would have to go around.
Someone grabbed her from behind, and a terrible rush of wind yanked her off her feet before she could react. She only caught a glimpse of his dark skinned arm, and the swirling air vortex that pulled them up and over the wall before he gave out and they crashed to the ground on the other side.
Tamain had somehow carried her over with his magic. The two tumbled across the dirt part along the wall and into the side of a house. Iala stood and staggered uncertainly in the direction of her prey before the stars and white dots faded from view. When she rounded the corner, it wasn't hard to tell where it had fallen from the ruin in front of her. She found it half-buried in a crumbling stone foundation of the nearby house. That entire wall was in danger of collapsing and already there were shouts of alarm from the occupants inside. A quick assessment of the structure and she knew how to bring it down on top of the creature. But not yet.
Human soldiers had come to investigate the commotion. They found themselves unprepared and uncertain of how to handle an Elthairin woman demolishing buildings. Their surprise and irritation was premature as a leathery monster broke through the building's damaged side with a shriek. The men that had startled at seeing an Elth, panicked and fled upon seeing the monster emerge. Iala looked up to the sky in exasperation; she was exhausted, wounded, and hoping these black clouds somehow held the key. Black clouds like this usually preceded a storm.
It started to rain.
The creature was trying to wrench its still buried wings free when Tamain emerged, clinging to the side of a building woozily, panting heavily and trying desperately to stand upright. Iala looked at him pityingly. Her harsh judgment of him had been a terrible injustice.
Never again.
Came her Queen's harsh instruction. And she couldn't help but snort derisively at her own nearsightedness. They had been right all along – all of them. And she owed them all a great apology. If they survived the day, tomorrow would be all the sweeter now. But she knew that was not going to happen. This monster needed to be stopped, and there was a certain way she would apologize to them and redeem her honor without having to say a word.
